Taylor Swift: New Country-Pop Star 泰勒•斯威芙特：甜美乡村小天后

来自美国宾州的美丽姑娘，年纪轻轻就已经成为不可小觑的乡村音乐势力。她用歌曲演绎着自己的生活，描绘着青春的喜怒哀乐。她的嗓音还未褪去小女孩特有的甜美，创作技巧却已经极其娴熟，成为乡村乐坛最年轻的创作型歌手之一。她，就是“我行我素，想唱就唱”的泰勒•斯威芙特。

By Andrew Frye
荀林 选 陈琛 译 medium

Taylor Swift became one of country-pop’s brightest and youngest faces in 2006, when the 16-year-old vocalist released her first album. Although new to the American public, Taylor had been performing since early childhood, taking inspiration and encouragement from her opera-singing grandmother.

Taylor Alison Swift was born on December 13, 1989 in Reading, Pennsylvania. Growing up, she developed a love for country music, especially Patsy Cline and Dolly Parton. By the age of 10, she began performing around her hometown, at festivals, fairs and sang at karaoke contests.

She sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” before a Philadelphia 76ers game at the age of 11; she started writing songs the following year, and this was the same time she got her first guitar. She began practicing her guitar skills for several hours each day, only stopping when her fingers began to bleed. Taylor’s parents realized their child’s dedication and began making regular visits to Nashville, where Taylor would perform casually and meet with songwriters in the area. The family then decided to move from their native Pennsylvania to an outlying Nashville suburb, which accelerated Taylor’s career.

At 13, Taylor Swift signs with RCA Records. A year later, she gets out of the contract because she doesn’t want to sing other writer’s songs. At the age of 14, she became the youngest songwriter signed to a publishing deal with Sony/ATV.

While performing at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, Taylor caught the eye of music industry veteran Scott Borchetta, who signed her to his newly formed label. Taylor joined the roster at Big Machine Records and released her debut single, “Tim McGraw,” in August 2006, and a career was born. The song drew upon her experience as a lovelorn high-school student, a theme that Taylor revisited throughout her self-titled debut album. “She has a real inner vision, a real inner directedness ,” says Scott Borchetta.

Her self-titled debut was released in 2006. She says she isn’t afraid of the tough country music industry: “Not by any measure I’m intimidated by the fear of being average.” It hit the top of the charts and has eventually sold over 2.5 million copies, earning the young star a Platinum album .

Taylor Swift gained a huge following through her MySpace page early on in her career. She made a point to connect personally with fans every day, and answer questions, and it has grown so much that she’s become the No. 1 Country artist on Myspace. In April 2007, when she won CMT’s Breakthrough Video award which was her first award, she thanked her “Myspace fans”. She was so ecstatic and said she would bring the award on the road with her when she went on tour with Brad Paisley , later that year, which she did. She even let fans pose with the award.

Before the end of the year, and her 18th birthday, she would reach another milestone, as her single “Our Song” became her first No. 1 song. Not only was it No. 1, but it remained in the position for six weeks.

In 2008, Taylor continued touring, which she loves so much. She released her sophomore release, titled Fearless. Like the first album, it contains songs she’s written and co-written. Fearless, tops the Billboard charts with 592,000 copies sold in its first week. Rolling Stone calls Taylor “a songwriting savant with an intuitive gift for verse-chorus-bridge architecture. If she ever tires of stardom, she could retire to Sweden and make a fine living churning out hits for Kelly Clarkson and Katy Perry.” Fearless resides at No. 1 for more than six straight weeks and earns Taylor Album of the Year at the Academy of Country Music awards.

Taylor also received a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist, an award she ultimately lost to Amy Winehouse . The country music darling also lands on PEOPLE’s Most Beautiful list. On March 2009, Taylor, 19, gets candid on the cover of Rolling Stone. Whatever she does, you can be sure it will be a success!

2006年，乡村流行乐坛一颗闪亮耀眼的新星横空出世，她，就是泰勒•斯威芙特。那年，刚满16岁的她发行了第一张个人专辑。尽管对于美国公众来说，泰勒还只是一个新面孔，但是，年纪轻轻的她在曾是歌剧演员的外婆鼓励下，早在童年时就开始了自己的表演生涯。

1989年12月13日，泰勒•艾莉森•斯威芙特出生于宾夕法尼亚州的雷丁市。她从小就热爱乡村音乐，尤其喜爱歌手佩茜•克莱恩和多莉•帕顿。年方10岁，泰勒就开始在家乡一带到处表演，参加节日或集市上的演出和卡拉OK歌唱比赛。

泰勒11岁时，就在费城76人队的一场比赛前唱过美国国歌《星条旗永不落》。她在12岁时就开始独自创作歌曲，并拥有了自己的第一把吉他。自此之后，她每天都会花好几个小时苦练吉他，经常弹到手指流血才停下。泰勒的父母看出了女儿对音乐的执着，于是，他们经常带她去纳什维尔市，在那里，她有时会进行表演的，并能和当地的作曲家交流。最后，泰勒一家索性决定从家乡宾夕法尼亚州搬到田纳西州纳什维尔市的偏僻郊区，这进一步推动了她的演艺事业。

13岁那年，泰勒•斯威芙特成为了RCA唱片公司的签约歌手。一年之后，她和这家唱片公司解了约，因为她不愿意唱别人写的歌。14岁时，她和SONY/ATV唱片公司签约，成为了该公司最年轻的创作歌手。

泰勒有一次在纳什维尔的蓝鸟咖啡厅表演时，引起了一位资深唱片业人士斯科特•博切达的注意。刚刚成立唱片公司的斯科特决定将泰勒签下来。于是，泰勒加入了Big Machine唱片公司，并在2006年8月发行了自己的第一首单曲《蒂姆•麦格劳》，正式开启了她的歌唱生涯。这首歌描写了一位饱受相思之苦的高中女生，而这正是泰勒的亲身经历。这个主题也贯穿了她的第一张个人同名专辑。斯科特•博切达评价道：“她的确有自己的视角，并有很深的感触。”

2006年，泰勒发行了第一张个人同名专辑。她表示，自己并不害怕乡村音乐行业内的激烈竞争，她说：“我从来没有担心自己会碌碌无为。”泰勒的同名专辑一发行，就一跃成为排行榜冠军，大卖250多万张，为这位年轻歌手赢得了一张白金唱片。

泰勒•斯威芙特在其职业生涯的早期就利用MySpace这个网络平台获得了许多支持者。她每天都会在这个平台上和歌迷进行交流，或者回答他们的问题。就这样，她成了MySpace网站上最受欢迎的乡村歌手。在2007年4月，泰勒获得了她的第一个奖项——乡村音乐电视大奖的最具突破录影带奖。在上台领奖时，她特别感谢了MySpace上的所有歌迷。获得这个奖令泰勒狂喜不已，她表示和布拉德•派斯利一起举办巡回演唱会时，她会把这个奖杯一直带在身边，后来，她真的说到做到，甚至让歌迷拿着奖杯拍照。

2007年年底，在泰勒18岁生日之际，她的单曲《我们的歌》成为全美音乐排行榜冠军，这是她的第一首冠军歌曲，也是她歌唱生涯中的另一座里程碑。这首歌不仅成为冠军单曲，更在榜首位置持续了六周之久。

2008年，泰勒继续进行她钟爱的巡回演出。同年，她发行了第二张专辑《放手去爱》。就像第一张专辑一样，这张专辑中的歌曲也是泰勒自己写的或者和他人合写的。这张专辑发行第一周就登上了美国《公示牌》排行榜冠军位置，并热销592,000张。《滚石》杂志称赞泰勒“作曲功底深厚，同时在主副曲结构设计上有过人天赋。如果她有一天厌倦了明星生活，完全可以隐居世外，只靠为凯莉•克拉克森和凯蒂•派瑞作曲就能生活得很安逸。”《放手去爱》这张专辑连续六周占据榜首宝座，并为泰勒赢得了乡村音乐学院奖的年度最佳唱片大奖。

泰勒还获得了格莱美奖最佳新晋歌手提名，但是最终输给了艾米•怀恩豪斯。这位乡村音乐小甜心还入选了《人物》杂志评选的最美人物名单。2009年3月，19岁的泰勒成为《滚石》杂志的封面人物。这验证了一句话：无论她做什么，都会取得成功！


. vocalist: 声乐家，歌手。
. Patsy Cline: 佩茜•克莱恩，20世纪五六十年代美国著名乡村歌手；Dolly Parton: 多莉•帕顿，20世纪六七十年代美国著名乡村歌手。
. The Star-Spangled Banner: 美国国歌，中文译名《星条旗永不落》；Philadelphia 76ers: 费城76人队。NBA中的一支球队，主场设在费城。
. dedication: 专心致志；Nashville: 纳什维尔，美国田纳西州首府，被誉为“美国乡村音乐的发源地”。
. accelerate: 加速，推动。
.veteran: 老手，富有经验的人。
. roster: 花名册；debut: 初次登场，首次上场。
. lovelorn: 害相思病的，失恋的；self-titled: 以自己名字命名的。
. directedness: 定向，控制。
. Platinum album: 白金唱片。在美国，销量超过100万张的唱片为白金唱片。
. following: 追随者；MySpace: 在中国被称为“聚友网”，是美国最大的互动交友网站之一。
. CMT: 美国乡村音乐电视大奖，全称为“Country Music Television”。
. Brad Paisley: 布拉德•派斯利，美国著名乡村歌手。
. Billboard: 美国《公示牌》杂志，创办于1894，内容包含许多音乐种类的介绍与排行榜，具有权威性。
. verse: 歌曲或诗歌中的段落；chorus: 副歌，叠句，是流行歌曲的主要部分。
. churn out: 大量制作；粗制滥造。有贬义，用在此处是为了表明泰勒的创作速度很快；Kelly Clarkson and Katy Perry: 凯莉•克拉克森和凯蒂•派瑞，美国新晋流行歌手。
. Academy of Country Music: 美国乡村音乐学院奖。
. Amy Winehouse: 艾米•怀恩豪斯，英国著名流行歌手。